The Rules of Ice Hockey
- In This Quick Guide:
- Learning Ice Hockey Basics
- Following the Game in Play
- Understanding Penalty Types
Ice hockey can be confusing to the first-time observer. Understanding the rules will help you identify what’s going on in the game and give you a greater appreciation of the sport. Here, you learn about the object of the game, and a few details about players, pucks, penalties, and points.
Learning Ice Hockey Basics
The game of ice hockey involves these basic elements:
- The object of hockey is to place the puck in the opponents’ goal. Players must use hockey sticks, not hands, to get the puck in the goal.
- The players form teams of six—the goalie plus five other players.
- The rink is the playing field, and it extends right up to the boards. Play can even occur behind the goal in hockey.
- The zones are three sections of the rink. The middle section is a neutral zone, with each team’s defending zone on either side. The defending zones are indicated with blue lines. An attacking player (from the other side) can’t enter the opponents’ defending zone until the puck is past the defending line.
- The goal is surrounded by a half-circle, called the crease, where the goalie guards the goal. No player can enter the crease unless the puck has already passed the line. In the crease, the goalie can use his hands or any other part of his body to keep the puck from entering the goal.
- The penalty box is located near the center line of the rink. If a player commits an offense, the referee sends the player to the penalty box.
- Scoring in ice hockey is straightforward—each goal scores one point. The winning team is the one with the most points at the end of the game.
Following the Game in Play
Here’s how the game of ice hockey unfolds:
- The Face-Off occurs at the beginning of each period and after any interruption in the game (such as a goal score). One player from each team joins a referee inside the center circle. The referee drops the puck, and the players must fight for control of it without touching each other with sticks or parts of the body.
- Offense is led by the team’s center, who is more or less responsible for the middle of the rink. The job of offense is to take control of the puck and hit it into the other team’s goal. The center is flanked by wings; the right wing sticks to the right side of the rink, and the left wing sticks to the left. Either may move toward the center of the rink to facilitate passing.
- Team defense is made up of two players, the right and left defenders, whose job is to keep the puck away from the goal. In the offensive mode, they can assist the attack; in the defensive mode, when the puck is in their end, the offensive players will move in to help them.
- Scoring maneuvers include the fast break, in which a player gets the puck in one end of the rink and moves it to the other end fast enough to beat the other team’s defense to make a good shot. A hat trick is a term that describes a player scoring three goals in a single game.
- Player substitutions are common in ice hockey, because there are only six players on the ice at a time. The coach rotates players as often as necessary to keep the team moving toward its objectives.
- Penalties land players in the penalty box, where they can’t help the team for a period of two to five minutes, depending on the penalty type. If penalties leave one team with fewer players on the ice than the other, the larger team is said to be on a “power play.”
Understanding Penalty Types
Ice hockey recognizes two kinds of penalties: Minor penalties last for two minutes, and majors last for five.
Some minor penalties are:
- Charging—slamming into another player with too much force.
- Cross-checking—hitting another player using a stick held with two hands.
- Elbowing and kneeing—checking (coming into contact with) another player using elbows or knees.
- High-sticking—lifting the stick above shoulder level.
- Hooking and holding—using a stick or a part of the body to stop another player.
- Interference—blocking a player who doesn’t have the puck.
- Roughing—hitting and shoving.
Some of the major penalties include:
- Boarding—checking and causing another player to hit the walls of the rink.
- Fighting—a deliberate fight that becomes more serious than roughing.
- Slashing—swinging the stick toward another player.
- Spearing—using a stick to jab other players.
Now that you know the basic rules of ice hockey and the game’s key elements—players, offense, defense, scoring maneuvers, and penalty types—keeping track of the action is fairly easy. Enjoy the game!
by Pamela Rice Hahn
